Thanks for coming to visit me at the Laughing Ogre today, guys! Don’t worry, if you missed me, I’ll be back there again next Sunday from noon until three for the Ogre’s “Mini Indie” con. Danielle won’t be there, though, sorry! Just me!

in this case it could be a combo of using the techniques “foreshadow” and “foreskin” within the same space, causing a…. (next reader take a shot here at finishing this one, I’m all out!) ____________ event!!

I don’t have a whiteboard I’m allowed to try it on, but I’m pretty sure it’ll actually rub off quite well with a good Staedtler eraser [or one of the “click” erasers]. Works for me for most laminated surfaces I’ve had “permanently marked.”

Actually, all you have to do to get rid of permanent marker on a white board is scribble all over it with a dry – erase marker, then use a normal white board eraser or damp paper towel to erase it. I don’t know why it works, I just know it does.

The reason it works is that both markers use a solvent (usually isopropyl alcohol or xylene) to carry the ink. These solvents dissolve the ink so it’s liquid in the pen, but they evaporate quickly when exposed to air leaving the ink behind. When you scribble over the permanent ink with the dry erase marker, the solvent from the dry erase marker dissolves the permanent ink too, making it easy to wipe off. You can also use pure solvent (like rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer/vodka) for the same effect, though some solvents can be more smeary than others.

The real trick for removing permanent marker from a white board is to draw over it with an actual white board marker. Then wipe it all up before it dries. The ‘permanent’ ink comes right off with the rest.

ironically permanent marker is incredibly easy to get off of a white board; it’s not even challenging. All you have to do is draw over it with a white board marker and it will come right off. They probably don’t know that however.

Carla is MtF, right? Honestly, I haven’t read much of the other Williverse works, but I recall something someone linking to once referencing the fact that Super Car was originally designed to be male, but redefined itself as female after gaining sentience/sapience.

Never understood that myself, just like with the Transformers, I hated it when they started to talk about “male” and “female” transformers, and that they used pronouns like “he” instead of “it”. To me, a robot is a robot, it doesn’t have any gender because it IS an object, a thing, a bunch of bytes and gears. Gender has no meaning outside of reproductive functions, and a robot is assembled, not “created”. If a character is not a biological creature, I never assign gender to it, it’d be like assigning gender to the buildings they live in, the clothes they wear, etc. But then again, I’ve never understood the concept of “gender identity” either, how does one “feel” like a man or a woman ? I am a man, but I have never felt like a man, it’s just something that I am, I have no idea how to either, so how can a person build an identity around such a random part of their physiology ? I am honestly confused. To me the phrase “I identify as a woman” sounds just like “I identify as a red head” or “I identify as a person with two legs”. And I’m not asexual, I just never felt that my gender was a very important part of me, apart from sexual relations, otherwise I can’t really see any point in genders at all. If I read a book, and a characters name is ambiguous, I don’t visualize a male, I visualize a foggy “blob” until more information has been given.

Gender is a social construct. It’s something that has no meaning outside of the cultural connotations we give it. Biological sex is a completely different matter. Transgender people are saying “I fit better into this set of cultural connotations than this other part of the culture,” not “I have this specific arrangement of chromosomes and genitalia.”

Not to mention that, in some languages, inanimate objects are indeed gendered simply as a matter of grammar.

(Indeed, I assume this is what Transformer gender refers to, rather than anything to do with reproduction. For a TF, “lady parts” might well mean a certain type of laser core or T-cog or dataprocessor or something.)

At some point, I’m hoping that the permanently-shifting terminology stabilizes somewhat—I’m always afraid of offending someone by using the wrong term, because some people object to MtF, some people object to AMAB, and then there’s MAAB, and, above all, I’m never quite sure if there’s another term that’s become more appropriate within the last several months, and I do hate to be offensive. Unfortunately, I can only keep track of so many acronyms…

My money is on Joyce.
Here’s how it goes
Mike draws a dick on Joyce’s door, so since she doesn’t want to look weird being the only one to have a dick on their door, she draws one on everyone else’s using the one on her door as a model

TOO DETAILED A DRAWING — she wouldn’t have the guts to print and trace (and get caught) and she doesn’t know what they look like on her own (unless her and the brother played doctor a lot… which if that were true, she’d be a lot more at ease with the discussion).

THEREFORE I RULE JOYCE OUT AS THE CULPRIT BY PROCESS OF EJACULATORY ELIMINATION!

Yes, but they used a fragment of the Allspark. If the Allspark can keep bringing Starscream back to life, it can restore Nanosec’s virility. I’m surprised you’re not more offended that Angry Archer, Nanosec, Slo-Mo and Professor Princess named their organization after a car.

This seems like a Mike thing? Well at the very least, I think he did Joyce’s. Or maybe Ethan in a fit of rage drew one on Joyce’s door, but then evened it out to make her guess. (this is a stupid theory, but it is a theory that makes me giggle)

I don’t think Mike would draw dongs on every door. He’s more into the personalized sort of torture. He likes to really get in there with his victim. Savor the suffering. Plus, I get the sense this is about to turn into a mystery, and Mike wouldn’t have any reservations about admitting to this.

This almost seems like Walky’s sort of thing, if not for the fact that it’s a bit… I dunno…. ambitious for him? It’s the kind of thing he’d think was funny, but even if he thought of it, I doubt he’d actually go through with the work.

My guess is it’s a character we haven’t seen yet. Maybe Duncan. Or Ninja Di- I mean, Rick

It’s not really self-centered. She thought she was the victim of a very cruel act and then discovered that it wasn’t transphobia directed at her, but a prank she just happened to be one of many targets of. That’d probably be a huge relief to anyone.

Honestly, I can see that. I can.
But she seems to first assume it’s directed at that, and not, y’know, just someone drawing a dick on her whiteboard. If you have a white board, people will draw dicks. This is apparently a rule in all colleges.

It’s like her life experiences have changed her expectations of people. It’s like transphobia is common enough that she can pretty easily assume that dick jokes aimed in her direction are done so with a purpose. That’s no more self-centered than anyone else. Her experiences color her interactions with others – that’s called situational awareness.

At this point, it would depend on the person. The amount they were bullied, and the amount of support they felt. I can understand her feeling like it’s directed at her because she’s trans, but I could also see her assuming it’s just because of a random asshole with a marker.
So, you’re right in a way, we don’t know much about her yet.
So we’ll need to wait for more backstory.
Though since this is Willis, and Willis loves drama, I feel you may be right, and the bullying will outweigh the support.
I still say she’s a bit of an ass though.

The fact that you consider it reasonable for her to assume it isn’t about her gender identity is a textbook example of cis privilege. Without having lived through having people dropping little hints and references and straight-up insults regarding your presumed genitalia, assuming this is yet another in a long line of people pointing out that you’re a freak seems like an overreaction. Many things can seem more innocent through innocent eyes. Be grateful for yours.

It is reasonable to assume she might not assume its aimed at her gender identity because not everyone in the world is going to care about her gender identity.
If she has lived through that, she could assume it is, maybe.
If she lived through that, she could assume it isn’t, maybe.
Because always assuming if someone draws a penis, a really REALLY common prank for anyone with a white board, is aimed specifically at your gender identity and not because they were being assholes, is self-centered with a victim complex at most, or seriously symptoms of a person who’s gone through a hell of trauma deeper than Amber and her dad.
I don’t think her bullying was Amber levels.
I don’t think she’s completely self-centered.
But she is assuming it’s directed at her gender identity.
Not as her as a person, and not at her specifically, not at her in general.
She’s assuming it’s about her gender identity.

Once again,
I do think she’s been through bullying.
I do think she’s a little self-centered.
But I do think it would be reasonable.
Would.
Be.
Reasonable.
To assume that a random dong on her white board, isn’t directed at her gender identity.

So, why would it be a hate crime? Even if this Carla’s asexual, it doesn’t seem to compute.

Now, based on the diversity of drawings, at least one of which has a very low skill level, I’d guess they were drawn by several people. Either that or one person trying to make it look like several people.

I basically never read the asks, and I got it. Knowing a girl is transgendered and drawing a dick on her stuff anyway is pretty obvious transphobia.

That’s why Carla was suddenly relieved it was just a random run-by vandalism targeting ALL the girls – which, indeed, makes it hilarious. (Why, you ask? Because not only is a transgendered woman not being outed or harassed, but because it’s obviously a juvenile stunt with virtually no thought – hate or otherwise – behind it. It’s someone who knows dicks are guaranteed offensive to 99% of the population and so went to town with them.)

You mean transgender. “Transgendered” isn’t a word because “transgender” isn’t a verb. you can’t “transgender” someone. Additionally, transgender also isn’t a noun, for anyone who wasn’t clear on that point.

I won’t use transgendered after this post anymore, since it bothers you. However, I would like to point out this very discussion HAS been done, and those who would normally be under the “transgender” label don’t always agree on the usage of the word, especially when they’re linguists.

Off the top of my head, examples can be found in the comments area for the HuffPost article, “Transgender or Transgendered?” While the author proposes to speak for the entire community and declare “transgender” the official and only acceptable label, it’s pretty clear in the comments the community is not okay with that. Specifically, Roger K., DoktorHyena, JayceRen, iammeandme, and Storm4u presented several of the more prominent arguments in favor of NOT stamping everyone with “transgender.”

As I mentioned above: Mike tends to do things for a reason, to make a point to a specific person. Here there’s no reason to penis all the doors, especially not in permanent marker. He was doing it before to upset Joyce and managed it even with her attempts to block him,. thus his point was made, thus he was finished with her.

This is wide scale harassment that will likely end in someone getting in big trouble, Mike isn’t stupid enough to do this.

OK, there goes my Walky theory…he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would draw them with a permanent marker. Unless he didn’t know it was a permanent marker, which DOES sound like him actually. Hmmm…

I don’t know why but I think that this chapter is going to be how everybody are going to hate Mike because Joyce manage to make every girl blame him and at the end is going to be all “oh I’m sorry it wasn’t you but the real criminal is still out there” and the one doing it is going to be Sarah

Where I did my undergrad, the whiteboards were provided by the school who paid for them by selling advertizing along the edge of them. One of the adds had the headline, “pregnant? Need help?”. Goes great with the artwork.